New Delhi, November 2
Life in the Capital returned to normal with all major markets opening today the three-day bandh called by traders to protest against sealing of commercial establishments in residential areas.

People thronging a street in Sadar Bazar on Thursday. —A Tribune photograph

The business establishments opened even as the Supreme Court hearing applications filed by the Centre and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) today refused to defer the sealing operation.

However, the sealing drive that was supposed to resume yesterday had to be deferred in view of the tense situation in the Capital. The sealing also could not begin even today, as the apex court-appointed monitoring committee decided not to resume the process due to the volatile law and order situation.

The three-day bandh had passed off without any major incidents except for some cases where buses were damaged and deflated, particularly in the East and North East areas of the Capital. The police had also used some force to disperse agitating Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers who tried to gherao the assembly.

About 1,500 agitating BJP workers and traders were rounded up for picketing the state Assembly. Some protestors and policemen also received minor injuries in the incident on October 30. Yesterday, over 350 people were detained and about 150 public transport buses torched by protestors.

More than 500 trade organisations had joined the bandh, which was supported by many associations and state units of BJP and Congress. Though government schools and most private schools were open, attendance remained thin.

New Delhi, November 2
The government today said that both the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and police are of the opinion that it was difficult to carry out sealing of illegal shops in Delhi in the tense situation currently prevailing here.

The Group of Ministers (GoM), chaired by Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, was told by the police that the situation in the Capital continued to be tense and it would be difficult to carry out sealing of shops for the time being.

The police approached the GoM after direction of the SC-appointed Monitoring Committee for police force to start sealing from tomorrow.

“The Municipal Corporation of Delhi will approach the Supreme Court tomorrow and apprise it of the difficulties on the ground in carrying out sealing in the present tense situation,” Union Urban Development Minister S Jaipal Reddy said after a meeting of a Group of Ministers (GoM) on the issue.

He said both the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and police are of the opinion that it is difficult to carry out sealing in Delhi in the current tense situation.

Besides, he said, there were two major Sikh festivals falling on the weekend, which will also be brought to the notice of the court.

Asked whether the government was heading towards a confrontation with the judiciary by not carrying out the court-ordered sealing drive, Reddy said, “We want to obey the court orders, but the government has its own difficulties, which we will tell the court about”.

“We will wait for the Supreme Court’s directions,” he said. 

New Delhi, November 2
Delhi Assembly was today adjourned for the day after ten minutes of functioning when ruling party legislators demanded time for the ‘Phool Walon Ki Sair’, a traditional festival symbolising communal harmony.

Earlier, BJP’s Harcharan Singh Balli was expelled for three days from the house after he sought an ‘explanation’ from the government on the Lt. Governor’s request seeking paramilitary forces to oversee the sealing operation in the Capital.

BJP MLAs, under the stewardship of leader of Opposition Jagdish Mukhi, later sat on a ‘dharna’ under the Gandhi statue in the Assembly lawns demanding resignation of Chief Minister Ms Sheila Dikshit.

During the ‘working time’, Industries Minister Mangat Ram Singhal laid before the House the notification on the payment of Gratuity Act exempting employees of the BSES along with other notices.

Proposals were also put forth on the Delhi Tibbia College (Takeover-Amendment) Bill 2006, the Delhi Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill 2006, the Members of Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (Salaries and Allowances - Amendment) Bill 2006 and the Delhi Commission for Safai Karamcharis Bill 2006.

These proposals have been passed by the House.

The Health Minister Yoganand Shastri introduced the Delhi Tibbia College (Takeover) Amendment Bill, while Raj Kumar Chauhan, Minister of Food and Civil Supplies, tabled the Delhi Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Bill and Delhi Commission for Safai Karamcharis Bill 2006.

However, there was no discussion on the sealing drive.

BJP MLA Harcharan Singh Balli raised this issue for discussion and demanded resignation of the Chief Minister.

Later, the BJP MLAs took out a rally in the old secretariat chanting slogans against the Congress government and demanding a halt of the sealing drive immediately.

They also burnt an effigy of the Chief Minister outside the secretariat.

New Delhi, November 2
A group of Supreme Court lawyers today took time off their practice to hold a dharna in front of Jantar Mantar. They were agitating against the government’s policies with regard to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the retail sector and the indifference of the Congress-led UPA government to the plight of traders who face sealing of their commercial establishments in residential areas.

Ms Sonia Raj Sood, a Supreme Court lawyer who led the protest, told The Tribune that they had submitted a memorandum on the issue to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, and UPA Chairperson Ms Sonia Gandhi.

The memorandum signed by 25 Supreme Court lawyers, reads, “We appeal to you to use your influence to give immediate relief to traders since the helplessness of this working class will result in a law and order problem.”

On the issue of FDI in the retail sector, the lawyers have said that closure of shops of traders would not only create more space for international and national players in the retail segment, but also endanger the future of smaller traders. 

New Delhi, November 2
With the approval of Members of Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi Amendment Act in connection with salaries, allowances, pensions etc, MLAs in Delhi are expected to get double their current salaries besides other allowances.

The Bill was passed in the House of Delhi Assembly today.

However, it will take some time for the MLAs to get the monetary benefit as the Bill will first go to the LG and then the Union Ministry of Home Affairs for approval before being notified.

At present, MLAs get a salary of Rs 3000, daily allowance of Rs 400, constituency allowance of Rs 6000, conveyance allowance of Rs 500 and secretarial allowance of Rs 7000 besides Rs 2000 worth of telephone calls and rent per month. They have only to pay their electricity and water charges.

If the Bill is approved, their salary will rise to Rs 6000, daily allowance to Rs 500, constituency allowance to Rs 8000, conveyance allowance to Rs 4000, telephone facility to Rs 4000 and electricity and water charges of Rs 2000.

They will also get higher pension.

With the implementation of proposal of hike in salaries and allowances, there will be an estimated additional annual recurring expenditure of Rs 139 lakh from taxpayers’ money.

This Bill was tabled before the House and passed after persistent demand by the MLAs on the ground that there had been an increase in the cost of living which was too high in Delhi in comparison to cities and towns of other states.

This resulted in proposal to initiate separately amendment to the Ministers of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act 1994.

The amendment was proposed on the basis of provisions relating to salaries, allowances and other facilities available to the MLAs of Maharashtra and Goa

New Delhi, November 2
Hundreds of supporters of parties like Jan Morcha, Janata Dal, Nationalist Congress Party and CPI participated in a march from Red Fort to Town Hall to protest against the sealing drive.

The protestors, led by former Prime Minister V P Singh, tried to march into the Town Hall in Chandni Chowk to ‘seal it’. However, they were stopped by the police and leaders like NCP MLA Ramvir Singh Biduri and Deputy Speaker of Vidhan Sabha Shoaib Iqbal courted arrest.

Singh, addressing the protest rally, demanded that the entire law with regard to the issue be placed under Schedule IX of the Constitution. — PTI 

Faridabad, November 2
Notwithstanding the sharp rise in the growth of residential infrastructure and other development projects in the district, the traffic problem continues to be ignored by the authorities concerned.

The70-km odd National Highway number 2 popularly known as Mathura Road passing through the city and the district is being considered as the most accident-prone area where hundreds of people lose their lives in accidents every year.

Various organisations have demanded from the authorities concerned to take up various measures to make the road safe.

The Senior Citizens’ Welfare Association, Palwal, has asked the government to make the road a red light free zone by constructing flyovers and providing service lanes for the local traffic.

In a communication to the Union Ministry of Surface Transport, the Association has claimed that there had been a spate of accident on this road, especially at the stretches that pass through populated areas.

According to the association’s president, Dr M. L. Manchanda, several accidents have occurred at the three crossings located on the highway in Palwal during the past few days.

He said besides the reckless and rash driving by travellers, absence of flyovers, signals, traffic police and adequate infrastructure on this road had added to the chaos resulting in heavy damages in terms of human lives and property.

Social activist, Mr Trilok Chand Gupta, said that unless proper safety measures were taken by both the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and the district administration, the menace of road accidents could not be checked.

He said around half a dozen persons had lost their lives in accidents in the past one and half month due to rash driving by dumper trucks in the region. He demanded that though some barricading had been done by the NHAI on the Mathura Road, but there was an immediate need to construct flyovers on all the busy crossings passing through Faridabad, Palwal and Hodal towns.

He said in view of the spurt in the developmental activities like construction of two Expressways originating from Palwal that would lead to heavy traffic in coming years, it became more necessary to take these steps.

Mr Gupta also alleged that there were encroachments at several places on all important roads and on the highway, and added that these must be cleared to give way for widening of the roads and providing alternate routes at congested places.

“While the highway passing through the Gurgaon city was being turned into an Expressway by the government, the similar problem in Faridabad was still ignored,” claimed a local resident.

He said the traffic on the Mathura Road here had grown several times in the past couple of decades, but the authorities concerned were till to take the issue seriously to contain the problem. He claimed that crossing the stretch between the Badarpur border and Ballabhgarh from one side took more than an hour while it could be covered within 15 to 20 minutes if there was no bottleneck.

New Delhi, November 2
To arrest the rapidly depleting groundwater level, strict regulations will be put in place to check the digging of new tube-wells in Delhi from next year.

The registration of tube-well owners will be completed by next month, after which authorities will implement ‘regulation control’ to check the number of new tube-wells, except for a few ones allotted to the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) for providing drinking water.

“Except for North and Central districts, where water levels are relatively safe, all other districts will come under regulation control,” the Chairman of Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) told reporters on the sidelines of Water Asia-2006, an exhibition on the water industry.

He added that South and Southwest Delhi were already under regulation control.

Noting that the problem was not the scarcity of water but its management, he said the CGWG along with relevant authorities was actively looking at effective ways of managing water like rainwater harvesting.

Earlier, speaking at the function, he expressed concern over the available water treatment technologies in the country, citing the disposal of waste from Reverse Osmosis process by industries. 

New Delhi, November 2
The South district police today claimed to have nabbed property dealer Manjeet Singh (40), an accused in the murder case of a senior citizen in C R Park area.

Manjeet Singh, a resident of Govindpuri, was arrested from outside the Gurudwara Bangla Sahib where he had been hiding for more than three weeks.

The police said he had allegedly killed Surjeet Kaur (75) and seriously injured his husband Mohan Singh (85) in C.R. Park area and since then he had been absconding.

The injured Mohan Singh had allegedly told the police that Manjeet Singh had stabbed them with kitchen knife.

During investigation, the accused allegedly confessed to having committed the murder and revealed that he was in deep frustration due to heavy loss in the business. On the fateful day, a peon from a nearby bank had delivered Rs 20 thousand to the couple. Seeing the delivery of cash and assuming that there could be more cash and other valuables at the house, he planned to kill the duo.

He took a knife from the kitchen and stabbed the couple several times. After committing the crime, Manjeet Singh decamped with the cash of Rs 20 thousand and other valuables locked in the almirah. 

New Delhi, November 2
Succumbing to pre-board exam pressure, a Class X student of Delhi Public School, Noida, allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself at his Preet Vihar residence in East Delhi today.

Gyan Deep, son of a Delhi Development Authority (DDA) Executive Engineer, was found hanging from the ceiling fan of his room by his mother this morning when she went to wake him at their Mausam Vihar residence in Preet Vihar, according to sources.

Family sources said he had gone to sleep in the night as usual and looked normal. However, they added that he was depressed for some time as he was weak in English and had even been pulled up by his teachers on this count.

Though no suicide note has been found, no foul play was suspected, the police said.

The family even got the post mortem waived, it added.

Noida, November 2
The police today claimed to have solved the October 7 murder case of senior citizen Dr Renu Khangolkar, a gynaecologist, in sector 21.

The G.B. Nagar SSP said the alleged killer, Bablu Ansari, was nabbed from one Jagat Gujjar’s house in Harola yesterday. The accused had given the cell phone number of Dr Renu to someone in Bhopal which was traced by the police two days ago.

The police said that Bhola, who was working as a helper with Airtel, had visited retired wing commander Khangolkar’s house a year ago for installing the cell phone.

According to the SSP, on October 7, a drunk Bhola allegedly entered the house finding the doctor alone and offered to arrange a gas connection to her. Later, he asked for a glass of water. As Dr Khangolkar went in, he grabbed her and at a dagger point asked her to give him all jewellery and cash. But Dr Khangolkar resisted and raised an alarm. At this, Bhola pushed the doctor to the ground in the rear room and stabbed her to death.

After committing the murder, he pulled a gold chain from the victim’s neck, took her cell phone and Rs 500 from her purse. He changed his shirt, which was spoiled by blood stains. He left for his village in Gopalganj in Bihar the same day along with his wife. He returned from there only yesterday, the SSP added.

The SSP said that the accused allegedly confessed to having gone to the house with the intention to loot money for the treatment of her sick wife whom he had married six months ago.

The police allegedly recovered the cell phone of Dr Khangolkar from his shirt pocket. 

Noida, November 2
Three persons riding a motorbike looted Rs one lakh, a dozen cell phones and other valuables from a dealer of Idea Company late on Wednesday evening opposite LG Company on Surajpur-Kasna road under Kasna police station.

The dealer was beaten up when he resisted the assailants. The dealer was reportedly on his way to company’s head office in Noida after making some collections.

Dharmender, a resident of Ashok Nagar, delivers company’s coupons to shopkeepers during the day and returns to Noida after collecting the dues in the evening. On Wednesday evening also, he was on his way to the company office in Sector 4 Noida on his scooter.

As Dharmender reached near LG company, three persons on a bike allegedly over took him and snatched his bag containing Rs one lakh, a dozen cell phones and other articles. When Dharmender tried to resist, he was beaten up and threatened that he would be shot dead. The criminals then fled towards Surajpur.

Dharmender later informed the police. Though the police had organised a vehicle check, the criminals could not be nabbed.

New Delhi, November 2
The police have filed an FIR against two top officials of a private bank, charging them with cheating and breach of trust, after the bank allegedly deducted three EMIs from the account of a person without disbursing a loan to him.

In an FIR, lodged against the Managing Director and the Regional Head of HDFC on the direction of a Metropolitan Magistrate, it was alleged that the officials illegally and fraudulently deducted three Essential Monthly Installments (EMI) from the account of one Abhay Gupta who was never disbursed any loan.

The General Manger of the Indian Bank, the banker of Gupta, has also been charged in the FIR for his alleged role in clearing the EMIs towards repayment of the loan.

Gupta, on December 19, 2005, was handed over a cheque of Rs 1.97 lakh after he was sanctioned a car loan from the HDFC bank through its direct selling agent, the FIR alleged.

But, the said cheque was allegedly dishonoured by the HDFC bank. When contacted, the Bank officials informed Gupta that the loan was never sanctioned to him, it said.

Gupta, however, was taken aback when received the repayment schedule from the Bank and was also issued a letter on February 15, 2006, threatening to use recovery mechanism if he failed to repay the loan.

He received another shock when he came to know that the Indian Bank had deducted three EMIs from his account through Electronic Clearing System (ECS) and denied his request to stop further payment to HDFC, the FIR alleged.–PTI 

New Delhi, November 2
The police today claimed to have nabbed a notorious criminal, Intezar, alias Don (32), from Badayun in Uttar Pradesh. He was wanted in kidnapping-cum-murder of a trailer truck driver in 2004 and police had announced a reward of Rs 25,000 to the informer in the case. One Ram Chandra Verma had lodged an FIR at Sangam Vihar police station that his brother, the trailer truck driver, had left for Delhi with the loaded trailer truck.—OC

New Delhi, November 2
Delhi High Court today summoned the medical superintendent of the Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute (RGCI) over its alleged failure to provide some beds reserved for the weaker sections of the society.

A Division Bench summoned the superintendent to appear in person on November 13 and explain why the beds were not given to the deserving patients from the weaker sections.

The order came on a PIL filed by an NGO Social Jurist, seeking the court’s intervention after the Institute failed to comply with the government’s condition that some beds would be provided to the poor patients.

The petitioner said the government had allotted the land at subsidised rate to the Institute with a pre-condition that the hospital would reserve some beds for the poor patients from the weaker sections of the society. 

Inspite of imposing the highest licence fee and conversion charges within the country, thanks to the realty boom in National Capital Region (NCR), Haryana has decided to again increase these by another 5 per cent.

The government’s decision to hike the licence fee and conversion charges, during the recent Cabinet meeting, has invited ire from various sections of trade and commerce. Terming this hike as unjustified, the realtors and businessmen have said that inspite of adopting a pro-trade approach by bringing down the fee, the government is desisting investors to come to Haryana.

As of now, licence fee and conversion charges for commercial use of land, being levied in the controlled areas of Haryana vary from Rs 4. 56 crore per acre (in Hyper Potential zone of Gurgaon) to Rs 14 lakh per acre in the low potential zones like Mahendragarh and Sirsa. In Faridabad, Sonepat and Panchkula (high potential zones), the conversion charges and licence fee vary from Rs 2. 48 crore to 1. 32 crore, depending on the floor area ratio.

Though the notification for new (hiked) conversion charges and licence fee will be issued only later this month, the government has justified the 5 per cent hike on the pretext that it is commensurate with the prevailing real estate prices in the state.

The increase in rates of licence fees and conversion charges by 5 per cent has been affected only in hyper and high potential zones. In the medium and low potential towns no increase in licence fees or conversion charges will take place.

Mr Manbeer Chaudhary, President of the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI), while talking to TNS, said that the Union Ministry of Finance had proposed to grant an infrastructure status to the hotel industry, especially in Delhi and NCR region, in wake of the hotel room shortage for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. “Just like airports, roads and communication networks, hotels form an important part of infrastructure.

After realising this, the Union Government has agreed to grant us some concessions so that the room tariffs can be kept low. However, the Haryana Government has raised the conversion charges and licence fee, which is warding off the hospitality sector to invest in the state,” he added.

The FHRAI President said it was mainly the hospitality sector that was affected as they proposed to seek licences for setting shop along the national highways and Scheduled Roads.

But the conversion charges and licence fee for commercial use of land was several times higher than the conversion charges for residential, institutional, industrial or recreational use.

“We are now planning to take up this issue with the Haryana Chief Minister, during the 42nd Annual FHRAI convention, to be held at Chandigarh from November 10- 12,” said Mr Chaudhary.

Noida, November 2
The voters list in Sector 19 election office here has been thrown around like waste paper. The voters have first to squat on the ground and find out the relevant voters list and then trace their own names in it. The voters list has been tossed around by the staff of the election office in a shocking way and is trampled over by visitors.

The scene for getting voters photo identity cards is still worse. There is a virtual scramble among those who visit the office for getting their voters photo identify cards issued. There is perfect lack of any system for this work.

Senior citizens and women are the worst sufferers who have to stand in queue for hours. There are no separate queues for them.

Photographers and Naib Tehsildar on duty are normally not seen in the office. No one is available to guide and answer people’s queries. In case of power cuts, citizens have to keep standing and sweat out in the queues till power is restored. There is no generator set in this office.

New Delhi, November 2
Professor K. K. Aggarwal, the Vice-Chancellor of Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIU), has been conferred the ‘Rajkumar Varshney’ Award in Systems Theory for the year 2006 by the Systems Society of India (SSI).

Prof Aggarwal is a reputed IT expert and this award has been awarded to him in recognition of his contribution towards ‘Reliability Analysis of Engineering Systems’.

The award also carries a cash prize and citation and was bestowed on Prof Aggarwal, in absentia by the SSI, at the National Systems Conference held on Thursday at the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa.

Prof Aggarwal has been working in the field of Reliability Analysis of Engineering Systems for the last three decades and has published more than 200 papers in several national and international journals on the subject. He has also been judged as the ‘Man of the Millennium’ by the American Biographical Institute.

Prof Aggarwal has worked on several practical engineering systems for reliability studies such as High Power Amplifier for Satellite Communications, Instrument Landing System and Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, to mention some. 

New Delhi, November 2
A counsellors’ meet entitled ‘Growing Within and Reaching Out’ was organised by AmityCARE, the social renaissance engine of Amity.

Inaugurating the meet, Mr Mathew Cherian, Chief Executive, HelpAge India said, “Every individual, whether a child, a youth or an aged person yearns for love and respect. The most lamentable fact is that our elders are not given due respect. The clarion call is to instill in our youth the basic values and respect that one ought to give to our elderly.”—TNS

Ghaziabad, November 2
Shoot-at-sight orders were on Thursday issued by district authorities here for tomorrow’s Mayoral election to ensure violence-free polling.

The orders were issued by the District Magistrate, who said, “police will open fire at those found indulging in violence tomorrow” during the third and final phase of polling for the Mayor’s election.

Official sources said this decision was taken as 40 per cent of the 80 wards in Ghaziabad city have been declared as ‘sensitive’.

The previous two rounds of polling in the district had taken place on October 28 and 30. The counting of votes will be held of November 6.

The authorities have also asked all public representatives including ministers, MPs and MLAs to leave the district during tomorrow’s polling. “Violation of this order will lead to arrest under the Public Representatives Act,” the DM added. —Agencies

New Delhi, November 2
The Department of Vascular and Endovascular surgery, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, is organising a four-day annual conference that will focus on common vascular diseases.

The national conference that began here today is likely to be attended by over 300 delegates, who will discuss advanced techniques and devices being used in vascular and endovascular surgery.

“The conference is about ‘puncture hole’ surgery or endovascular surgery. This fast evolving specialty of endovascular surgery – the minimal invasive arm of vascular surgery utilises angioplasty, ballooning and stenting to manage blockage of the blood vessels. The angioplasty of the neck arteries is done to prevent stroke or paralysis,” said Dr B K Rao Chairman BOM, Ganga Ram Hospital.

He said, “Vascular surgery is a well-established independent surgical specialty in most of the developed countries, but unfortunately it remained a neglected part of the broader super specialty of cardio-thoracic vascular surgery”.

It was mentioned that remarkable technological advances have been taking place and are being discussed by the national and foreign faculty at this meeting. Cutting edge research is in the pipeline to uncover newer modalities of management.